Tuesday January 24, 2017 1:03 pm

In this episode of Budget Tech Buys, I give you a look at the fantastic Francois et Mimi Hydrolix #Waterproof #Bluetooth speaker! Let's see how it holds up to playing music from the iPhone 7 Plus, being submerged in water for a waterproof test, and more!

If you’re looking for a great Bluetooth speaker that packs in a bunch of features at a price that’s way less than the competition, look no further thanthe Francois et Mimi Hydrolix Waterproof speaker.

Nowadays, portable Bluetooth speakers are a commodity. Everyone is making one, and they all pretty much do the same thing. In order to stand out from the pack, you’ve gotta put together a package that screams value, and that’s what Francois et Mimi did here with the Hydrolix. Let’s open it up and take a look at what’s in the box, and if you like what you see, I’ll leave a link in the description below so you can pick one up for yourself.

First, you get a simple instruction booklet, which I actually do recommend going through because it’ll show you how to use each feature offered by the Hydrolix speaker, some of which you might not even realize it has. Of course, I’m here to walk you through it all as well, so you can let this video be your guide.

Up next there’s the microUSB cable, used for charging up the Hydrolix speaker. On the inside it rocks a 2200mAh battery, which will last you about 6-7 hours per charge - oh yeah, and I almost forgot - it has a standard USB port on back so you can use all that battery to charge up your phone. How clever is that? They also throw in a dual-sided 3.5mm cable so you can hook up devices that don’t use Bluetooth, which isn’t something you’ll find in the box for most Bluetooth speakers, especially at this price point. Rounding out the included accessories are a USB AC adapter so you can plug into the wall for power, and a velcro loop that I used for hanging the speaker up by the hook that’s attached to the right-hand side.

Now let’s take a look at the Hydrolix speaker itself. One thing you can’t tell y watching the video, but that was immediately apparent to me, was the density. The speaker has a nice weight to it - it’s not gonna rumble around a table when you’ve got the music turned up, and that’s a good thing. You have metal speaker grills covering 10W speakers on the inside. Around that there’s a rubberized coating, making this one rugged speaker that can withstand behind dropped.

As you can see you’ve got all of your controls across the top, so you don’t have to go looking for any extra buttons. Your battery and mode indicators are on top as well, and that battery notification is another nice touch that you don’t see, even on more expensive options. There’s also an NFC chip on top as well to make pairing even easier if you have a compatible smartphone, like this Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Of course, pairing with an iPhone is simple too, it just takes an extra couple of taps.

The star of the show here as far as features go is the waterproof ability. Francois et Mimi boasts an 1P67 rating on the Hydrolix, which means that the device features complete protection against dust, and protection against water immersion up to 1m and for up to 30 minutes. As you guys might know if you’ve been watching me for a while, I love when manufacturers waterproof electronics, and I love testing the waterproof ability - so I subjected the Hydrolix speaker to a bunch of liquid to see how it would hold up. Here as you can see, it gets so loud, that it will actually shoot the water that I poured on it back out like a fountain while I am playing music.

I also gave it a dip in the sink while playing music, and it came out like a champ. This is definitely a Bluetooth speaker that you wouldn’t have to think twice about having poolside.

Similar waterproof Bluetooth speakers from bigger brands clock in at about $149-199. That’s why I was surprised to see that you can pick up the Francois et Mimi Hydrolix Bluetooth speaker for $67.75 right now on Amazon. So like I said at the beginning, if you’re in the market for a new Bluetooth speaker, you can’t go wrong with the Hydrolix.

Now I want to hear from you - do you own a wireless Bluetooth speaker, and if so, which one and what do you think of it? Let me know in the comments below, and I’ll meet you there for further discussion. Be sure to hit the like button if you enjoyed this one, and click on my face to subscribe to stay up to date on all future videos and gadget giveaways. Until next time, I’m Andru Edwards, thanks for the support and I’ll catch you in the next video.